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Aleppo: Russia calls humanitarian pause in Syrian city

Eight-hour pause in fighting announced for later this week as EU says assault on Syrian city could amount to war crimes.

18 Oct 2016 11:40 GMT

Russia has announced plans for an eight-hour "humanitarian" ceasefire in Aleppo later this week, amid a warning from the European Union that the Syrian government's assault on the city could amount to war crimes.

The United Nations and the EU welcomed Tuesday's announcement by Russia, but said the planned pause in fighting - set to take place on Thursday - needed to be longer to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.

"We have taken a decision not to waste time and to introduce 'humanitarian pauses', mainly for the free passage of civilians, evacuation of the sick and wounded and withdrawal of fighters," Sergei Rudskoi, a senior Russian military officer, said in Moscow.

Five things To Know About Aleppo

The truce would run from 8am to 4pm local time (05:00 GMT to 13:00 GMT) "in the area of Aleppo", Rudskoi said.

"During this period the Russian air force and Syrian government troops will halt air strikes and firing from any other types of weapons."

Russia announced on Tuesday that both Russian and Syrian government jets had stopped their bombing of Aleppo's rebel-held east at 10am local time (07:00 GMT) in anticipation of Thursday's temporary truce.

A 48-hour or 72-hour ceasefire "will require some sort of mutual arrangement", he said.

The announcement came as EU foreign ministers condemned the deadly air war waged on Aleppo over the past three weeks.

"Since the beginning of the offensive by the regime and its allies, notably Russia, the intensity and scale of the aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo is clearly disproportionate," an EU statement said.

"The deliberate targeting of hospitals, medical personnel, schools and essential infrastructure, as well as the use of barrel bombs, cluster bombs and chemical weapons, constitute a catastrophic escalation of the conflict ... and may amount to war crimes."

'Positive step'

The EU ministers said that they would press ahead with extending sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, but stopped short of threatening measures against Russia.